BIOGRAPHIES

Dunn, T. A. Philip Massinger: The Man and the Playwright. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1957, 284 p.

Full-length critical biography that is largely unsympathetic to Massinger as a man and as an artist.

Lawless, Donald S. Philip Massinger and His Associates. Muncie, Ind.: Ball State University, 1967, 67 p.

Detailed biography of Massinger that pays special attention to his social and literary connections.

CRITICISM

Adler, Doris. Philip Massinger. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987, 152 p.

Views Massinger as an important playwright whose works are best read as implicit political commentaries intended to expose the corruption of James I and his court.

Burelbach, Frederick, Jr. “A New Way to Pay Old Debts: A Jacobean Morality.” College Language Association Journal 12 (1964): 103-26.

Argues that the play is a dramatized caution to Charles I to not confer power on greedy opportunists.

Clark, Ira. The Moral Art of Philip Massinger. Lewisburg, Penn.: Bucknell University Press, 1993, 313 p.

Comprehensive study of Massinger's life and works, reassessing his political inclinations and claiming that his tragicomedies display a sophisticated understanding of the political and moral issues facing his society.

Craik, T. W. “Introduction.” In The City Madam, by Philip Massinger, edited by T. W. Craik, pp. 1-20. London: Ernest Benn, 1964.

Suggests that characters are secondary in importance to the action of the play.

Cruickshank, A. H. Philip Massinger. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1920, 228 p.

Critical study concentrating on the style of Massinger's plays and poems.

Douglas, Howard, ed. Philip Massinger: A Critical Reassessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, 241 p.

Eight critical essays, treating major plays as well as important general aspects of Massinger's dramaturgy, that seek to provide a fresh and constructive assessment of Massinger's works.

Evenhuis, Francis D. Massinger's Imagery. Salzburg: Institut for Englische Sprache und Literatur, 1973, 170 p.

Examines Massinger's themes and symbols, and discusses the various situations and emotions that evoke imagery in his plays.

Fothergill, Robert A. “The Dramatic Experience of Massinger's The City Madam and A New Way to Pay Old Debts.” University of Toronto Quarterly 43 (1973): 68-86.

Considers the dramatic experience in the plays limited and the social commentary transparent.

Gill, Roma. “Massinger's Believe As You List.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 46 (1965): 407-17.

Finds Massinger to be a playwright of limited imagination but considers Believe as You List a valuable play that raises interesting questions about conflicting ideologies.

Hoy, Cyrus. “Introduction.” In The City Madam, by Philip Massinger, edited by Cyrus Hoy, pp. 1-20. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964.

Discusses the comedic structure of the play and Massinger's place in English literary history.

Lawless, Donald S., ed. The Poems of Philip Massinger, With Critical Notes. Muncie, Ind.: Ball State University, 1968, 30 p.

Collection of Massinger's eight extant poems with accompanying critical commentary.

Otten, Elizabeth Spalding. “Massinger's Sexual Society.” In Sexuality and Politics in Renaissance Drama, edited by Carol Levin and Karen Robertson, pp. 137-158. Lewiston, N.Y.: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.

Argues that Massinger used popular forms to consider the crucial social questions of his age, particularly in reference to honor, reputation, sexuality, and chastity.

Thomson, Patricia. “World Stage in Massinger's The Roman Actor.” Neophilologus 54 (1970): 409-26.

Discusses the unity of theme and structure in the play.

Additional coverage of Massinger's life and career is contained in the following source published by the Gale Group: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 58.